Alessandra is reading…

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku – Review and Thoughts

Wow. This. Book.

This is going to be required reading for my homeschool life, there is no doubt in my mind.

How do I put this? Eddie Jaku’s book was humbling, it gave me such a good smack in the head to stop complaining about dumb things so often. Eddie’s story was so sad to read about, but his attitude at the end and his self actualization to smile every day and love life was so moving.

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He taught me so much, including a couple things about the Holocaust which I had never even known before. I’m not sure if I ever thought about survivors’ lives after being freed from the camps, but that is such an important time in survivors’ lifetimes. The time after being liberated was when survivors could not only breathe but finally had the capacity to process what they had been through, had to become reacquainted with civilian life, but I’m unsure if I even thought how hard that would be.

“I don’t think I had so much joy at liberation. Liberation is freedom, but freedom for what? To be alone?…I know many people who took their own lives when we were liberated.”

Eddie Jaku

And seeing their belongings from their previous lives on other people. Such as Eddie’s suit that had been custom made a few years before the war,

“The man couldn’t even read the German label and sheepishly agreed to return my suit. He was harmless enough – a thief only – but there were real collaborators with Jewish blood on their hands still walking around.”

Eddie Jaku

“I promised when I came out of the darkest hours of my life that I would be happy for the rest of my life and smile, because if you smile, the world smiles with you. Life is not always happiness. Sometimes, there are many hard days. But you must remember that you are lucky to be alive – we are all lucky in this way. Every breath is a gift. Life is beautiful if you let it be. Happiness is in your hands.”

Eddie Jaku

I plan on watching his Ted Talk at some point in the near future and I’m sharing in case any of you would like to watch it.

RIP, Eddie. Thank you for your book and life teachings.

Read on and love life.